Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday said that the resolution of the country’s water crisis would from now onwards be the top priority of the court.

He said this while heading a three-member SC bench, comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Minakhel besides him.

The bench was hearing a case seeking construction of Kalabagh and other dams to overcome the shortage of water in the country.

“We will find a legal solution to secure our children’s future,” said the chief justice and ordered scheduling of hearings for other cases related to water scarcity and construction of dams as well.

“I have repeated on a number of occasions that the water problem is extremely crucial,” he added.

The chief justice noted that water was a basic right, and thus it should top the list of national priorities. He maintained that due to the construction of Kishan Ganga Dam by India, water level had declined in Jhelum River. He continued, “if we cannot provide water to our children, then what can we do.”

The court sought a comprehensive report from the federal government on the water issue.

Earlier, the petitioner, Barrister Zafarullah, stated that the prevailing situation of water in the country was worrisome. He said Pakistan’s progress depended upon availability of water, but in the last 48 years, no new dam was constructed in the country.

The chief justice said that the hearing on the issue would begin in Karachi on Saturday (June 9), the next hearing would take place in the Lahore registry (on June 10) and then in Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta registries of the apex court.

Justice Tariq Masood said that no political party had prioritised the issue of water shortage in the country by resolving the trans-boundary disputes with the eastern neighbhour, India. The chief justice added that manifestoes of none of the political parties mentioned the issue of water shortage.

Kishenganga project

The Kishenganga Dam was started by India in 2009 and was fast-tracked despite Pakistan’s repeated opposition to the project which the latter claimed was in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.

The Kishanganga project was delayed for several years as Pakistan took India to the International Court of Arbitration, which ruled in India’s favour in 2013. India has maintained that hydropower projects under way in Jammu and Kashmir are ‘run-of-the-river’ schemes that use the river’s flow and elevation to generate electricity, and were not reliant on large reservoirs, which was a prohibition in the IWT.

Kalabagh Dam is a hydroelectric power project proposed to be constructed on Indus River at Kalabagh in Mianwali district. There is intense opposition to the project in smaller provinces due to its possibly devastating impact on the environment and people’s livelihoods. Over the years, scientific evidence in support of smallscale power generation projects from renewable sources has mounted and increasing evidence has been put forth the world over that big dams pose greater threats to the human environment compared to their short- and medium-term benefits.

Published in Daily Times, June 5^th 2018.